A Research On Howard Becker’s "Art World" Theory

In the context of post-modern complex art production,the issue of art definition has been raised again.Howard Becker’s “art world” theory re-examines art from the perspective of sociology,and provides a new research idea for contemporary art activities.This article mainly reviews Howard Becker’s “art world” theory,and interprets its theoretical value and significance on this basis.The thesis uses Howard Becker’s ”art world” theory as the research object to make relevant discussions.The main body of the thesis conducts academic research on Howard Becker’s “art world”theory from three aspects: the background of the times and the theoretical origin,the theoretical structure,and the theoretical value.The first part of the thesis sorts out the social background,sociological origin and aesthetic background of Howard Becker’s “art world” theory.Howard Becker’s “art world”theory was put forward in the context of postmodern art production changes.As a sociologist,Howard Becker started from the perspective of sociology and the method of symbolic interaction theory,and put forward the art The new paradigm of research is to study the interactive relationship between participants in the art production process.The theory of the“art world” has gone through several stages.Arthur Danto believes that it is a certain kind of art history knowledge and atmosphere that allows art to be art;George Dickey paid attention to the art system in the art world but did not go deep,he pointed out The issue of artistic qualifications and the issue of social systems have taken a big step towards sociology;while Pierre Bourdieu and Howard Becker have brought artistic research to the study of sociological methods,the former focusing more on struggle Relationship,the latter focuses on cooperative relationships.Starting from Howard Becker,the theory of the “art world” has moved from philosophical research to sociological research,which is a new perspective for art research.The second part of the thesis systematically analyzes the theoretical elements of Howard Becker’s “art world” theory.The theory of “art world” mainly focuses on the interactive relationship between participants in the process of art production,and the links of collective art production,distribution,and acceptance under art conventions.In the theory of “art world”,artistic activities are first considered as a collective activity,and various artistic actors cooperate through “art conventions” and “cooperative chains”;secondly,Howard Becker transforms art research into a kind of In the study of “process”,the artwork exists in a kind of process in this kind of flowing interaction.It is a process of being generated.Therefore,the value and significance of artwork should be investigated in the social dynamic process of the formation of artwork;Finally,it discusses the influence and role of aesthetic organizations and art systems in the art world.The duality and antagonism of the relationship between artists and art systems shows that no matter what identity artists are in,they are closely related to specific social and historical backgrounds.Therefore,art research is inseparable from institutional issues.These key elements constitute the organic overall structure of Howard Becker’s “art world” theory.The third part of the thesis analyzes the influence and value of Howard Becker’s “art world” theory based on art practice at home and abroad.Contemporary China has also appeared in many art forms reflecting the collective attributes of art activities,and the development of art sociology in China It is indispensable to learn from and absorb the experience of the “art world” theory.The value of the “art world” theory is that on the one hand,it provides contemporary art with a sociological research methodology,and through a kind of micro-interactive research,it allows art research to have a new and broad vision;on the other hand,the “art world” theory relies heavily on Constructing the social process of art production,studying the micro-interaction between participants,and abolishing the masterpieces in traditional art research and the aesthetic ideology of famous artists.This disenchanting strategy has great inspiring value for the reconstruction of today’s art theory.Howard Becker’s “art world” theory has moved from metaphysical conceptual research to metaphysical empirical research,broadening the field of art research,and proposing a paradigm to study art from a sociological perspective and method,which has guiding significance for contemporary art research.It also provides a broader perspective for art research.At the same time,in the face of post-modern art and the status quo of art practice in China,by absorbing the experience of art sociology,art theory and practice can be synchronized,and the development of art practice and art research can be promoted.